Is law school possible at 62?

[Roomdo]

Who should I talk to at the school? Admissions, Dean's office, Registrar?

[john4040]

Who should I talk to at the school? Admissions, Dean's office, Registrar?

I'd try to schedule an appointment to talk face-to-face with the dean... see if you can get him motivated and possibly sneak in the back door.  IIRC, the Dean of my law school had 1 full scholarship to give whomever the hell he wanted - regardless of LSAT score or GPA.

2.77 / 165 might get you in (http://houston.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats/0910/), but it'll be a close call.  Last year, a URM got dinged with 2.75/168, a guy got in with 2.7/165, and another person got in with 2.83/165.  Assuming you got a 165, you'd be a borderline candidate.  Maybe indicating your interest to the Dean and your extenuating circumstances will be the deciding factor.  I also wonder if there is some sort of advance commitment program at UH law.

[Roomdo]

That website is awesome. How do you know all this info?  So, just go straight to the dean?

[john4040]

That website is awesome. How do you know all this info? 

I've applied to law schools before.  I told you that this wasn't my first rodeo. 

So, just go straight to the dean?

I'd say go straight to the Dean.  They're usually pretty cool about stuff like this.  The worst he can do is tell you to go talk to the head of admissions.

[haus]

I would not worry too much about the GPA.

There has been more then a few articles written about grade inflation over the last few decades. Most graduate school admissions offices seem to be of the opinion that a 3.0 today does not mean the same thing as a 3.0 from 20 (or more years ago). I had a chance to chat with some people from law school admissions offices for local schools (DC area), and they implied that the course that I have two decades ago will not be weighed as heavily as things that are more recent. While it will not be ignored it is not a illuminating of a picture as the GPA for a traditional student directly out of undergrad.

I suspect that if you do score in the mid 160s, this along with the other experiences that you bring to the table you have a very good chance to receive an offer. I would like to second john4040 suggestion of reaching out to the admission office, your case is different from that of a traditional student and steps taken (within reason) to highlight this will likely work in your favor.

[SemiMBA]

Interesting takes on the law and age.  I have to say by reading my son and daughters essays (both have pretty good IQ's) and the writings of a lot of the engineers and technicians who report to me that the state of education has decreased in our country.   I doubt the younger law students will be better than the older ones. 

I say go for it.  I am 49 years old and am studying for my LSAT's right now.  I am looking at two tier 3 schools (Lincoln in SJ and JFK in Walnut Creek).  Are these the SCU? (in the Silicon Valley tech sector, SCU is the school of choice)  - of course not.

I don't think you will be the Professors "female dog" unless you want to be.  You are what you set yourself up to be. 

What type of law are you looking into? 

[Roomdo]

I am interested in Elder Law- what else! actually Elder Law will envolve many areas of the law as it pertains to the involvement of "elders".

[Duncanjp]

Hi Roomdo. Interesting thread. Here's my experience...

I'm 50 years old and matriculated at Lincoln Law School in Sacramento just over a month ago after sitting the LSAT in June. I work full-time for a title insurance company and attend classes three nights a week, plus a number of Saturday mornings, which is considered a part-time curriculum. The program takes four years to complete. It's fantastic. Brutal, but fantastic. If you enjoy endlessly reading deeply-involved texts that describe various disputes between people or horrific crimes and how the law is applied to them, then you're going to love studying law. But it requires every single second of free time that a person has. If I'm not at work, I'm either in class or I'm studying. If I'm in my car, I'm listening to CDs of the rules that I need to memorize and I'm reciting them aloud as I drive. If I'm in the freaking bathroom, I feel like I'm wasting precious study time. Frankly, I cannot work full-time and complete the entire volume of work they give us, especially formally writing out my own brief for every case that I'm required to read. Impossible. I'll write a few myself for each class, but I have to book brief the rest. It comes down to figuring out which corners can be cut and which cannot. Incidentally, when the semester started, I kissed my wife and said, "I'll see you in four years." The hardest thing of all is to find quality time for her. She's very supportive, lucky me, but she deserves to receive a fair measure of my time and attention, and wow. It's a difficult assignment. Especially since all I can ever think about anymore is law law law.

If I had time - I'm wasting time right now, LOL - I could write for hours about climbing this mountain. I really, really want to do this. But I'm doing it to enhance my current career, not with any illusions that I am going to find work as an attorney for some law firm when I'm 54. You need to really, really want the education in law. If you do, then don't listen to those who tell you that there is no point at your age. Do it for yourself. It's sort of like skydiving: you'll figure out where to land on the way down.

Best of luck.

[haus]

Thanks for sharing Duncanjp!

[LadyJ]

I'm 54 years old and graduated from law school in July 2009.  I went to law school part-time while working full-time.  I enjoyed the experience very much.  It was definitely challenging, demanding, and expensive, but I absolutey loved it and wouldn't change a thing.   I worked 48 hours per week, went to classes at night 3 nights a week and did most of my studying on weekends and on nights I didn't have class.  It is not easy at all, but doable and very rewarding.

 Since I graduated I have had many job offers and now I have a lot more career options than I had before the law degree.  I still work for my company where I've worked for over 16 years (work from home) and also do contract work for the government part-time from home.  The contract job was awarded to me because I have a law degree and relevant work experience in the same field.  I'm now earning well over 100K per year thanks to the combination of my legal education and many years of work experience.  I'm waiting for my bar exam results and expect that I will make even more money after I have my license to practice law.  My plans are to hang my shingles and continue to work my current job and the contract job while I build my clientele.

If this is what you want to do, go for it, you'll love it!  I know I do.